If you are like me and own an iPhone and have access to all of your applications through a Citrix server, this is very exciting news. According to Chris Fleck's recently updated iPhone blog,
"Yes, we are listening, and yes we are going to ship a Citrix App Receiver client for the iPhone ! Mark Templeton demonstrated our latest internal build at our Summit event last week and our partners gave us the same enthusiastic response as we are seeing here on the Blogs. Right now the schedule ship schedule is first half of '09 , but keep those votes and use cases coming and help us increase the priority further ! "
Ten years ago, I purchased a Samsung Prostar PBX phone and voicemail system. Last year, I determined it was time to upgrade. The Samsung still worked great; however, I was looking for a system with more functionality which would create greater communication efficiencies. My first thought, as always, was to look for a hosted system. I was able to find a number of hosted "PBX' systems; however, none seemed to fit our needs. Then I came across a solution from Fonality. PBXtra is a hybrid hosted IP PBX system using the open source software Asterisk. Fonality provides the hardware and phones and you simply plug and play into your existing network. The only fault with the system was the hardware seemed to be overpriced. Additional research lead me to another new Fonality project which was called trixbox Pro. The trixbox Pro system was practically identical to their PBXtra system, except it is a diy setup.
Using the recommended hardware suggested, I ordered a server from Dell and my Aastra ip phones from Voiplink. I setup the server and phones and downloaded a free version of the trixbox Pro SE software. The software includes a version of linux and although seems complicated was fairly easy to setup. Since my installation, trixbox has developed a server with the software pre-installed which makes the trixbox system more simple to setup.
You can view from trixbox the vast features for each version. The most notable for me have been the following, which are all included in the free version.
HUD - "Heads Up Display" from your computer
Administration from anywhere at any time through the trixbox web console
Access to personal extension portals through the web console
Voicemail to email
Outlook integration
Total costs for the 1998 Samsung Prostar system $10,000. Total costs for the seven extension trixbox Pro system $1,800. Communication efficiencies obtained ~ priceless.
